


Side By Side

by MikazukiMunechika305



Category: AKB48, SKE48
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Demons, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 15:11:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15342546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikazukiMunechika305/pseuds/MikazukiMunechika305
Summary: {“…in fact, I’ve decided to pair you up with someone else.”}Jurina had been by Mariko's side for five years. She had never expected her entire life to go downhill so quickly.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually heavily inspired by the anime/manga Saiyuki Gaiden.

_“Shit, she’s too strong! At this rate, she’ll end up killing us—”_

In the middle of the room, a girl stood over a young man threateningly. Although he’d only been fighting her for a few minutes, the man already looked like he was half dead while the girl wasn’t even breathing heavily. In fact, she barely even looked human anymore, a fact which was mainly caused by the wild, cruel look in her eyes.

“I told you, you shouldn’t have used her for your experiments.” Shinoda Mariko took a step forward, frowning in disapproval. Being one of the strongest members of the Heavenly Army, she was the Marshal of the Western Army, a title which she carried with pride and that she did her best to live up to. “Let me take care of this.”

Next to her, Takahashi Minami, the Marshal of the Eastern Army and one of Mariko’s closest friends, gasped in shock. “But she’s too strong, Mariko—”

Mariko shrugged the comment off and took a step closer to the girl. “Hey,” she called out. “Here I am. You want to kill me, right?”

The girl spun on her heels, her eyes narrowing predatorily. A low growl left her lips as she slowly approached Mariko before leaping forward in an attempt to throw her back against the wall.

Making use of her military-trained instincts, Mariko dodged the attack and lifted her hands, murmuring an incantation. Chains of light shot from her hands, slinging around the girl’s body and tying her up tightly enough to immobilize her. A whisper of awe went through the rows of the other gods.

Howling, the girl tried to free herself, to no avail. She didn’t stop trashing around when Mariko came even closer and even tried to bite the woman, but Mariko reached out and gently placed her hands around the girl’s neck. “Matsui Jurina,” she muttered as a golden light enveloped her hands and formed a collar around the girl’s neck. “Matsui Jurina,” she repeated louder. “That’s your name, and from now on, you’re under my command.”

Suddenly, the girl looked a lot more human than before. The wild look disappeared from her eyes, and she simply stared at Mariko. Then, a croaked “w-what…?” left her lips, a sound so quiet the other gods could barely hear it.

Mariko gave her a smile and ran a hand through Jurina’s hair. “I’ll let you rest in a minute, but first you have to promise me something. You can never take this collar off unless it’s really necessary, alright?”

Jurina’s eyes were still wide and her expression one of disbelief, but she nodded slowly. “Y-yes…”

“Good. You can sleep now.” Mariko touched Jurina’s forehead gently, and the girl collapsed in her arms. The chains holding her disappeared when Mariko snapped her fingers once; then the Marshal lifted the girl up and turned around to the other gods, her expression stern, almost angry. “You will never use this girl for your experiments again.”

One of the other gods stepped forward, looking a bit nervous. “But she’s just a demon; why do you care about her so much?”

“ _Never_!” Mariko snapped angrily, glaring at him. “Or the next time, I’ll use _you_ for my experiments!” With that, she turned away and carried Jurina to her room, setting her down on the bed.

 

A few hours later, Mariko was sitting at her desk and writing a report when she heard the sheets of her bed rustle quietly. She turned around and found Jurina sitting upright, looking around confusedly. “Ah, Jurina… you’re awake.” She gave the girl a friendly smile.

“Jurina… is that my name?” the girl questioned quietly. “I’m sorry, I… barely remember anything.”

“That’s fine, don’t worry. My name is Shinoda Mariko… and yes, you’re Jurina. Matsui Jurina—that’s the name I gave you.”

“The name you gave me…?”

Mariko sat down on the bed with her, looking at the girl seriously. “I’m sorry, I know things will probably sound a bit confusing to you. But I’m sure you’ll remember what happened to you soon, so… I’ll try to explain _why_ those things happened first.” She took a deep breath and started explaining.

“As I said, my name is Shinoda Mariko; I’m the Marshal of the Heavenly Western Army. The Heavenly Army fights demons because… well, gods and demons don’t go well together. About a year ago, our emperor declared that he was going to capture a demon in order to perform experiments on them… experiments on how to defeat demons more effectively, on how to hurt them more—things like that.”

Jurina was staring at her with wide eyes, nodding slowly to show that she was still listening. Mariko took that as a sign to continue.

“And so, our emperor actually did come back with a demon he captured. It was a very young, female demon… and she was different from all the other demons I’ve ever seen.” A sigh left Mariko’s lips when she remembered the day she had first seen Jurina. There had been few people to oppose the emperor when he announced his project, but Mariko and Minami had been their leaders. “That demon, Jurina… was you.”

Jurina winced slightly. “Me?”

“Yes. The scientists sedated you, they used all kinds of drugs on you. They had fun torturing you just because you’re a demon. It was horrible to know that things like that were happening to you. And earlier, they wanted to show everyone what they’d accomplished—how they’d broken a demon. How they’d broken someone who never did anything wrong in her life.” Mariko was scowling by now, an expression on her face that made Jurina back away slightly.

“But I… I hurt people, didn’t I?”

_So she does remember something_ , Mariko thought to herself. “…yes, you did. You weren’t as broken as they thought… or maybe you were, maybe that was what made you snap. You were… nothing more than what they saw in you. A monster.” Before Jurina could say anything, she continued. “I decided to save you. I’m definitely going to get scolded for it, but I put this on you.” She reached out to touch the collar around Jurina’s neck. “This collar is a power limiter. It’ll keep you sane, so please don’t take it off, okay?”

For a moment, the girl was silent, just staring down at Mariko’s bedsheets. Then she nodded slowly. “Yes, I understand.”

“Thank you, Jurina.” Mariko gave her a soft smile and ran a hand through Jurina’s hair, her smile widening a little when the girl instinctively leaned into her touch. “I’m going to take care of you from now on, okay?”

After another moment of hesitation, Jurina nodded, even managing a tiny smile. “…yes. Thank you, Mariko-sama.”


	2. Chapter 1

It had been more than four years since that incident. Since then, Jurina had made it her mission to follow Mariko’s orders as diligently as she could and to support the Marshal as much as possible. As time passed, the young demon’s memories of what had happened before she woke up in Mariko’s bed returned, but she never asked Mariko to let her take off her collar or even let her return to her former home.

“I’m a weak demon,” she’d told Mariko once. “Well, not particularly weak… but I don’t enjoy hurting innocent people as much as they do. I wish my inner demon wasn’t there, you know? When it comes out, I become that _creature_ … but I don’t like it. And when I’m normal, I’m scared of the dark and things like that. That’s why the demons kicked me out of their clan.”

Mariko had given her a soothing smile and told her that Jurina wouldn’t have to ‘become that creature’ as long as she wore the collar, and Jurina had vowed to never take it off and to always stay by Mariko’s side. Since then, Mariko had started taking the young demon along when she had to go out for a mission. Soon, Jurina was able to easily defend both herself and Mariko by using solely her physical strength—a way of fighting that was quite unusual for both gods and demons, and it only added fuel to the fire of rumors Jurina’s first appearance in the Army had caused.

While Mariko’s soldiers had soon accepted the girl as a slightly peculiar, but very capable member of their squad, the higher-ups still didn’t trust her. Jurina wasn’t very bothered by that; she didn’t like the higher-ups very much and only obeyed their orders when Mariko told her to.

Then, a year after the incident, came the day the higher-ups called Mariko to their office to talk to her. “You’re still taking care of that demon?”

“Yes, I am. And Jurina didn’t cause any trouble in the past years, so I’m sure you can forget about her past, can’t you? Her power limiter has done us good deeds, she’s not dangerous at all.” Mariko’s eyes had narrowed, and her voice was cool.

“Yes, it is.” The way the man was referring to Jurina showed that he didn’t even see her as a person; a fact which made Mariko tense up even more. “We’ve come to the conclusion that your demon is still dangerous for all of us. It should be executed as soon as possible.”

Mariko scowled deeply. “Jurina is not going to die by the hand of someone from this Army,” she declared. “If she ends up hurting someone, I’ll take responsibility for it. But as of now, she’s not a danger for anyone here.”

A rattling sound echoed in the hall and a chain landed in front of Mariko’s feet. “Then use this, at least. Keep her on a chain, don’t let her stray too far from you. Nobody knows what she might do if you’re not there to keep an eye on her.”

Still scowling, Mariko left the room without another word.

Jurina, who had been waiting in the hallway, approached her curiously. “You don’t look happy. Did they complain about me again?”

Mariko forced a smile onto her lips. “They always do, you know that, right? But you haven’t done anything wrong, don’t worry.”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m worried about. You just look angrier than usual. Did they suggest something stupid?”

A heavy sigh left Mariko’s lips. “…they want you to be executed.”

Jurina’s eyes widened and she instinctively took a step back. “You… didn’t agree with them, did you?”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t.” Mariko ran a hand through Jurina’s hair soothingly. “But in exchange, they told me to keep you on a chain. They don’t want you to walk around on your own anymore; I’m sorry.”

A small smile spread on Jurina’s lips. “No, don’t worry. If it’s just that… we’re always together anyways, right? What does it matter if there’s a chain between us? If it means we can stay together…”

Mariko smiled a little as well. “Fine then. I’ll make sure it’s long enough for you to still move freely.”

 

Now, four years later, the two of them had grown completely accustomed to the chain that bound them together. Mariko wore a thick bracelet that was connected to Jurina’s collar by the long chain that always hung loosely between them. Jurina was happy to serve her, and she was completely convinced that things would never change.

However, they did.

One day, they entered Mariko’s office together like they always did. Mariko sat down behind her desk and Jurina sat next to her, patiently waiting for the Marshal to tell her what to do. But Mariko took out a sheet of paper, placed it on her desk and looked at the demon seriously. “Jurina, there’s something we have to talk about.”

“What is it? You look so serious—is it something bad?”

“…in fact, I’ve decided to pair you up with someone else.”

Jurina turned pale and her eyes widened. “W-what?! Did I do something wrong after all? Do you not like me anymore?”

Mariko put a hand on the girl’s shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. “Don’t worry, that’s not it at all. You’ve been doing very well in our latest missions and practice sessions. And that’s precisely why I picked you to be our new member’s partner.”

Jurina sighed unhappily, but fell silent in order to listen to Mariko.

“Thank you. Her name is Matsui Rena; she’s being transferred here from Takamina’s Eastern Army, and I heard she did a great job there.”

“Matsui…? Are you just pairing us up because of our last names?”

Mariko couldn’t hold back a small chuckle. “That might seem to be the case, but it’s not. I believe you two will be perfectly capable of dealing with each other.”

Pouting, Jurina leaned back in her chair. “But maybe she’ll hate me. She might see right through me, if she’s as awesome as you said. And maybe she won’t want me to sleep in her bed.”

“It’ll be fine, Jurina.” When the girl still didn’t seem happy, Mariko decided to suggest something else. “How about this: I’ll have you two stay together for two weeks. If you can’t stand each other after that time, I’ll pair Rena up with someone else and you can come back to my side.”

“…fine, fine. I’ll give her a chance then,” Jurina sighed, still sounding a little reluctant.

“I’m glad. And besides, it’s not like you’ll never see me again,” Mariko reminded her gently. “We’ll still go on missions together like we used to. We’ll still practice together.”

Her pout slowly leaving her face, Jurina nodded slowly.

“Thank you for understanding. Please try to get along with her, even if she might make it difficult for you. I heard Matsui-san prefers working alone.”

Jurina gave her another nod, leaning back in her chair. “So when is she coming here?”

“This afternoon.”

 

A few hours passed and Jurina stayed as close to Mariko as possible, enjoying her last hours as the Marshal’s partner. Then, finally, someone knocked at the door.

“Come in,” Mariko called out and a woman with pale skin and long, dark hair came in. “Ah, you must be Matsui Rena-san.”

The woman bowed deeply. “Yes, I am. And you must be Shinoda Mariko-sama, am I right?”

“You are. And this is…” Mariko elbowed Jurina gently and the demon sighed quietly.

“Matsui Jurina,” she introduced herself, trying not to sound too reluctant. “Seems like we’ll be partners from now on.”

Rena looked a bit surprised. “Partners? But Shinoda-sama, I…” Then she seemed to remember something and straightened up a bit. “I’m sorry. I hope we’ll get along, Matsui-san.”

Jurina nodded slowly. “…call me Jurina. It feels weird to be called ‘Matsui-san’ when we both share the same last name.”

Mariko smiled a little. “I’m glad you seem to be getting along so far. Now, for the more important things… Rena-san, I paired you up with Jurina because she’s a very capable and trustworthy soldier. I did hear that you prefer working alone, but I believe you and Jurina will work well together. However, there are a few things you need to know about her.”

Rena raised an eyebrow, and Jurina sat up a little straighter.

“Jurina has been fighting by my side for almost five years, and she’s become very strong,” Mariko began. “But she solely relies on her physical strength, not on incantations or anything like that.”

Rena’s eyes widened slightly. “What? That’s… very unusual.”

Jurina clicked her tongue. “Sorry for not being normal.”

“Jurina,” Mariko gently reprimanded her before continuing. “And since you’re going to be Jurina’s partner, you must wear this at all times.” She took off her bracelet, and only now did Rena notice the chain hanging between them.

“…what’s that? Whatever kind of relationship you two are in, I won’t—”

A quiet laugh left Mariko’s lips. “I do realize it may seem that way, but this is in no way a sign of our relationship. This was an order from the higher-ups.”

Rena still looked skeptical, so Jurina decided to explain. “They don’t trust me. Mariko-sama had a choice between getting me executed and keeping me on a chain, so… well, as you can see, she picked the chain.”

“Are you that dangerous?” Rena frowned slightly.

“Well… maybe—”

Mariko lifted one hand and Jurina fell silent. “The way she is now, Jurina isn’t dangerous,” she said calmly. “As long as she wears her power limiter—her collar—everything will be fine.”

“And I vowed to never take it off,” Jurina added. “It’ll be completely safe. You can even sleep in the same bed as me without having to worry about getting hurt.”

Upon hearing that, Rena’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Sleep in the same bed as you…?”

“I’ll let you two discuss that later,” Mariko cut in. “Jurina is right, even that is completely safe; I’ve done it for years, and I’m still as fine as I was before that. Anyways, keeping her on a collar was indeed an order from the higher-ups, and I suggest you keep this bracelet on at all times if you don’t want to get in trouble. Alright?”

Her eyebrows still furrowed, Rena nodded and put on the bracelet.

“Very well, I’m glad you understand. As long as you keep it on, you probably won’t get in trouble for doing anything wrong regarding Jurina. Now, this is the key to the room you’ll be sharing.” The Marshal handed Rena a key with a sign on it that said _Room 202_. “Jurina can show you where it is later. Breakfast is in the dining hall at 6:30, morning practice starts at 7:15. If we’re not out on a mission, you’ll have your lunch break at twelve and supper at seven. And now…” She glanced at the clock above the door to her office and smiled. “Afternoon practice starts soon, so we should probably get going.”

Jurina jumped to her feet to follow her, only to remember that she wasn’t chained to Mariko’s wrist anymore when she saw Rena still sitting in her chair. “Come on, Rena,” she said, tugging at the chain slightly. “Oh, Mariko-sama, can I show her what I can do? Since she still seems skeptical…”

Mariko smiled amusedly and nodded in agreement, and finally, Rena got up to follow them to the practice grounds as well.

The other soldiers happily welcomed Rena and Jurina couldn’t hold back a laugh when Akimoto Sayaka gave their newcomer a friendly slap on the back that was hard enough to make Rena stumble a few steps forward.

“Guess you mostly use incantations then, huh?” Sayaka smirked, turning her head to Jurina. “At least things won’t be too different for you, then.”

“Don’t say that,” Jurina replied, smiling a little. “We still have to get used to each other.”

Sayaka nodded and punched Jurina’s shoulder in a friendly way before returning to her place in the rows of soldiers.

Rena looked at her new partner in surprise when she noticed that Jurina didn’t even flinch from the strength of Sayaka’s punch. “Are you that much stronger than me?” she muttered, unable to hold back the question. “You didn’t even flinch when she hit you, and I…”

Jurina shrugged slightly. “I’ve been training with her for a few years. Maybe that’s what makes the difference?”

In that moment, Mariko clapped her hands, bringing silence upon the chatting soldiers. “As an exception and in order to show Rena-san how things work here, who of you feels ready to take on Jurina and me?”

The first ones to raise their hands were Sayaka and her partner Miyazawa Sae, both with wide grins on their faces. They were two of the strongest members of Mariko’s squad and they enjoyed a good challenge, which was exactly what Jurina gave them whenever they fought together.

Jurina looked happy about their decision as well, so Mariko took the bracelet back from Rena and took a few steps behind Jurina, gesturing at another soldier to give them the starting signal.

Jurina was jumping forward as soon as the signal sounded, and Rena was surprised to see how well she worked together with the Marshal. Their way of fighting looked almost like a dance, with Mariko following wherever Jurina moved and Jurina jumping back and dodging attacks whenever Mariko tugged at the chain. They had learned to completely use the chain, which had at first seemed like a hurdle, to their advantage, and Rena silently hoped she’d be able to do the same soon.

It was obvious that the four of them were enjoying themselves. Sayaka and Sae were still grinning, so was Jurina, and even Mariko had the tiniest of smiles on her lips. Regarding their strength, both teams seemed to be pretty equal because, while Sayaka and Sae used their physical strength more than any incantations, there were able to dodge most of Mariko’s magic attacks at an insanely fast speed.

Then, suddenly interrupting the rhythm of their fight, Jurina shot forward and pinned Sae to the ground. At the same time, Sayaka pointed her dagger at Mariko’s neck.

For a moment, all four of them froze in their positions and it seemed like time had come to a halt. Then, Sae playfully pushed Jurina off and sat up, brushing dirt off her clothes. “Another draw? Couldn’t you let us win just this once?”

Mariko chuckled while taking a step away from Sayaka’s dagger. “No, it wouldn’t have been any fun if we had.” A little mischief sparkling in her eyes, she turned around to Rena. “How was it?”

A bit stunned, Rena had to take a deep breath before she could answer. “Impressive,” she then said—that was the only word she felt was fitting for what she had just seen. “I didn’t think you’d be this good—all four of you.”

“If it comes to physical strength, nobody loses to these three,” Mariko gestured at Jurina, Sayaka, and Sae. “But if you’re as good as I heard you were, then I’m sure you won’t have a problem matching your incantations with Jurina’s physical attacks.”

Rena sighed quietly; it seemed like Mariko had very high expectations for her. But she decided to try her best to live up to them.


	3. Chapter 2

Their practice session went surprisingly well. Rena stumbled a few times because of the chain and of course the silent communication between her and Jurina was nearly nonexistent, but after all, it was only their first day together. And for that, Rena thought she hadn’t done a bad job at all: She had successfully ignored the urge to complain when someone was annoying her, and she’d managed not to complain about the chain on her wrist either.

Mariko was content with that day’s afternoon practice as well. Admittedly, Jurina had longingly glanced in her direction at least ten times, but the demon had kept her complaints to herself and tried to follow Rena’s movements as much as she could. The Marshal was glad Jurina was trying so hard to follow her orders instead of causing a ruckus.

Jurina herself mostly missed the way Mariko moved behind her. Rena was trying, but because she was new to all this, it wasn’t enough for Jurina yet. There was too much she didn’t know—things like _If I move left, will she follow me to give me more freedom? Or will she move right to fill the gap I left there?_ and _She’s mumbling some kind of incantation behind me, but where the hell is she aiming?!_ Those were questions she’d never had to think about with Mariko, and she hoped that she’d be able to achieve that same level of closeness with Rena— _No, what the hell am I thinking?! Of course I hope we_ don’t _achieve that kind of closeness so I can go back to Mariko-sama’s side!_ she scolded herself and winced slightly when someone touched her shoulder.

“Jurina?” Rena looked a little surprised when she felt the girl flinch from her touch. “Shinoda-sama said it was time for you to show me around now.”

“Ah, yeah, okay.” Jurina shook her head to get rid of her thoughts quickly and stretched her arms. “Alright, we’ll start with our room. 202, wasn’t it?”

Rena nodded and followed the girl from the field into the barracks and to their room. She couldn’t help but notice the way Jurina frowned when they entered the room, but decided to remain silent as she looked around. The room seemed alright; it was a little bigger than the room she’d had when she’d been with the Eastern Army, but on the other hand, her previous room had been for only one person. There was a desk and two wardrobes—and only one bed. Rena’s eyebrows furrowed in slight irritation. “So you were serious when you said I’d be able to sleep in the same bed as you.”

Jurina smiled weakly. “I’ll tell you one of my weaknesses now, Rena. I’m scared of the dark, so I can’t sleep by myself.”

A sigh left Rena’s lips before she could hold it back. “But I…” She trailed off and decided not to say anything. “…it’s nothing,” she finished a bit lamely.

“Let me guess… you’re not a fan of physical contact?”

Rena didn’t say anything. Jurina was smarter than she had expected; or maybe, the girl had just seen the way she’d reacted whenever someone had come to touch her during practice.

Jurina sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. Sorry for being like this, I guess.” She led the way back out of the room and showed Rena the bathroom and the common room. “Not that we’ll have much free time to be in here, but we still have a common room in case we ever want to bond with others.” _You don’t look like you’re going to do that, though_ , she added silently.

Her partner gave her a small nod. “Is there anything else I need to know or see?”

“Of course! There’s still much more. Mostly things you should stay away from, though.” Jurina led her to the hallway the higher-ups resided in and pointed at the closed doors. “These are the rooms you never want to enter. It’s where Mariko-sama’s superiors live. The ones who want me dead.”

“…oh, I see.”

“And over here’s the dining hall where we have breakfast, lunch, and supper.” Jurina glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and clapped her hands, smiling. “Supper’s in ten minutes. We can wait here. And meanwhile… you see the fancy looking tables over there?”

Rena nodded.

“Good. We’re staying away from those too. It’s where Mariko-sama’s superiors eat. They always look at me like I’m dirt or something even worse, so ignore them, okay?” Rena gave her another nod, and Jurina looked away. “You know… it’s not just because I had to leave Mariko-sama that I’m unhappy. In fact, I’m the worst partner you could have. People will probably hate you just because I’m your partner.”

“Why? What’s wrong with you?”

In that moment, three male soldiers joined them in waiting for the dining hall’s door to open. Smirks spread on their lips when they saw Jurina and Rena. “Now look at this. The monster’s got a new keeper.”

Jurina flinched slightly, but simply closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to let the comment get to her.

“Ignoring us, huh? Did you lose your confidence now that you’re not with the Marshal anymore?”

Jurina bit down on her lip, remaining silent. Then she tugged on the chain slightly. “Let’s go, Rena.”

But the other soldiers were quick at blocking their way. Rena’s eyes widened when one of them touched her cheek. “Hey, this one’s a real beauty. Your name’s Rena, right? Why don’t you spend a night in our room?”

“No. Let us leave,” Rena managed to mumble through gritted teeth. When they didn’t move, she started muttering an incantation, but Jurina quickly lifted a hand and placed it over Rena’s mouth.

“Stop. Using magic here will just get us in even bigger trouble. They’ll leave us alone when they get bored,” she mumbled into Rena’s ear.

One of the other soldiers yanked Jurina away by her hair while the other two closed in on Rena. “You shouldn’t be spending time with that demon, Rena-chan.”

Rena’s eyes widened. “D-demon?” And then she heard a pained groan from behind her.

Jurina had punched the man holding her forcefully enough to make him stumble back in pain. There was a weird look in her eyes—one that made her look wild and hurt at the same time. She glared at the other two soldiers. “Mariko-sama will learn about this,” she hissed. “And you’ll get punished.”

They looked at each other, suddenly smirking again. “Then why don’t we do something that’ll actually be worth the punishment?”

Rena yelped when they pushed her back against the wall, reaching for the buttons of her uniform. “Stop that!” Instinctively, she started muttering a short incantation, releasing a burst of air strong enough to push the men back. Behind them, Jurina was already waiting, slamming their heads together with enough force to make them collapse and pass out with pained whimpers. Surprised, Rena stared at her for a moment.

Then, she snapped out of her daze when Jurina grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the men. “Sorry, but supper will have to wait.” She started walking away from the dining hall quickly, still holding onto Rena’s hand, so Rena had to jog in order to keep up with her.

“Jurina, where are we going? What was that about?” She usually wasn’t one to ask many questions, but this time, Rena just couldn’t keep them to herself. “Why did they do that?”

Jurina didn’t reply. Instead, she pulled Rena along to Mariko’s office and entered the room without even knocking. “Mariko-sama, the others…”

Mariko looked up from her papers in surprise. “Jurina?”

The girl took a few more steps forward and wrapped her arms around Mariko’s waist, immediately relaxing a little when the Marshal hugged her back. “I… we beat up three of the others,” she muttered barely audibly, causing Mariko to frown.

“What? Why?”

“They… were bullying us. They were going to hurt Rena. They said it ‘looked like the monster had a new keeper now.’ I knew it was a bad idea to pair us up…”

Rena watched her a little worriedly. She didn’t like how Jurina was behaving right now; especially because she didn’t know why the girl seemed to be feeling so guilty. Or maybe… “Shinoda-sama…”

Mariko looked up at her with a raised eyebrow, encouraging her to speak.

“…they called Jurina a demon.”

Mariko frowned deeply. “That of all things… but it’ll be fine, Jurina.” She stroked the demon’s back soothingly. “I’m sorry, Rena. I’ll make sure they get punished; I’m sure you two aren’t lying to me about this just to avoid punishment. Can I leave Jurina in your care for a bit? Take her to your room; I’ll bring your supper there later.”

Still a bit confused, Rena nodded and didn’t resist when Mariko put her hand into Jurina’s again. Rena led the girl back to their room, noticing how Jurina seemed to have lost all of her former liveliness and talkativeness. She unlocked the door and sat down on the bed with Jurina, a bit unsure of what to do. “Jurina… can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Jurina weakly shook her head. “You’ll hate me. I don’t want you to hate me just yet. After I was trying so hard…” She got up and walked over to the window, leaning onto the sill and looking outside in silence.

Rena sighed, staring at the chain that connected them. It was still hanging loose between them, although it wasn’t lying on the floor anymore because Jurina was standing further away. Rena’s thoughts were racing. _Monster. A power limiter. The demon. She’s very strong._ The things other people had said about Jurina flashed through her mind and she slowly started understanding what was going on. “Jurina—”

“Please don’t.” Jurina’s voice was quiet, even shaking a little. “I should’ve expected them to come for me as soon as Mariko-sama left me alone, but I’m sorry they targeted you too. Sorry for making your life harder than necessary. Please don’t say what you’re thinking just yet.”

And Rena, hearing the helplessness in Jurina’s voice, decided to oblige. She lay down on the bed, and after a while Jurina joined her. The girl took Rena’s hand a little hesitantly, and Rena forced herself not to pull away.

A bit later, Jurina was fast asleep.


End file.
